Simon Murphy’s ‘100 Rolls’ Project Wins in Portrait of Britain Awards
Simon Murphy has become well known around Govanhill for his photography project which celebrates the people that make up the community. Now one of his photographs, of our frequent contributor Dylan Lombard, has been selected in the British Journal of Photography’s Portrait of Britain Awards. Read our interview with him from our last issue.
One of Simon’s first portraits from the 100 Rolls project - of twins James and Brian
Photographer Simon Murphy has become a familiar face around the streets of Govanhill, walking the streets camera in hand in search of people that catch his eye. His black and white portraits of Govanhillians have gained him some 9000 followers on Instagram, and resulted in multiple awards. His works have been exhibited in shop and café windows around the neighbourhood, collectively making up a portrait of a place.
His latest project develops this idea further. He was the recipient of Kodak’s Film Photo – Visionary Project Award and received 100 rolls of film a prize. He decided that he wanted to take his audience on the journey of using them.
Each roll of film contains 10 shots, and Simon has committed himself to share at least one image from each roll, even those that he’s less than happy with. He’s aware of the false narratives that social media can convey, and, as a photography educator, doesn’t want that to be off-putting to learners. “I don’t expect every portrait to be fantastic. I want people to know that not everything I do is good. I want people to know I make mistakes.”
Simon is also releasing a short video for each roll, telling the story of the images he takes. Alongside this, Simon is also sharing more of the process on his Instagram page, but says this is something he treads carefully with and only does with the subject’s permission: “I’m always concerned that sometimes the images that resonate with people are the hard luck stories. Yet people have so many facets to their life, that this can kind of label them – and stay with them.
“I'm keen that, as an artist, my shots cause viewers to ask themselves questions rather than having everything revealed. I want them to think ‘there's someone who I've haven't spoken to before’ or ‘that’s a culture that I don't know much about’. My hope is it makes people more open to other people.”
Simon has been shooting images of Govanhill for twenty years now, something he began while studying photography at college and living in the area. “The place is incredible. It’s a place like no other in the city and there's lots of reasons for that. People are in the street more than any other place and because it's a small area with a lot of houses, so naturally you see more people. I'll turn a corner and see someone I've never seen before and that'll keep happening because of the nature of a place; people move in, people move out, people visit. It’s forever changing.”